AIKEN, S.C. – Hitting the field for the first time as a nationally ranked team in the 2023 season, the No. 23 Newberry College (19-4) baseball team picked up an 8-4 win over the Pacers of USC Aiken on Wednesday, March 15.
Junior Rhett Jolly (Edgefield, S.C.) led the Wolves on the night with a trio of RBIs in the contest while senior Braylin Marine (Freeport, N.Y.) knocked a pair in. Junior Henry Gibson (Walterboro, S.C.) and sophomore Jonathan Velez (Mayaguez, P.R.) each tallied one on the evening as well. Junior reliever Gunnar Erickson (Chapin, S.C.) picked up his second win this season as he struck out five batters in two and two-thirds innings of scoreless baseball.
A pair of early defensive miscues by the Pacers defense put a runner in scoring position early in the first for the Wolves. A pair of back-to-back fly outs, including a sacrifice fly by Marine, gave Newberry the early 1-0 lead in the contest. It would take until the bottom of the second for the Pacers to even the score before adding a run in each of the fourth and fifth innings to take the 3-1 advantage.
The Wolves were able to respond in the top half of the sixth as RBI-Singles from Gibson and Jolly brought around a pair of runs for the Wolves and brought the score back knotted at three a piece. Newberry was able to add another pair of runs to their nightly tally as a 2-RBI single from Jolly plated two more runs for the Wolves and swung the advantage up to 5-3.
Three more runs found their way on the top line of the scoreboard in the ninth inning as a pair of RBI singles by Marine and Velez sandwiched around an error on the part of the Pacer score those trio of runs for the Wolves and furthered their lead to 8-3. USC Aiken threatened with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth but senior Joe LaFiora (Philadelphia, Pa.) was able to work out of the jam, allowing just one run in the frame to wrap up the 8-4 win for the Wolves.
Newberry returns to action on Friday, March 17 as they kick-off a three-game conference series with the Cavaliers of UVA Wise.